Lesson 3: The Things That Have Been, part 3

Revelation 1:9-18
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,
15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,
18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

In these verses we read where John was, and under what circumstances he was there – he was a prisoner because of His faith in Jesus, and he had been taken to an almost-deserted island called Patmos in the Aegean Sea. One Sunday morning he heard a voice behind him telling him he was to write down everything he was about to hear. He was to send what he wrote to seven main churches in Asia.


When he turned around, John saw Jesus in a different way than he had ever seen Him before. First, Jesus was standing in the middle of seven golden lampstands. These lampstands remind us of the menorah God had designed for the tabernacle. Just as the menorah was the only light in the tabernacle, so these seven lampstands were light in their locations – seven churches which had been founded by the apostles, mostly by Paul. John writes that Jesus looked like a “son of man”- meaning He looked like a human being. “Clothed with a long robe” in that culture symbolized a king (see Judges 8:26; 1 Samuel 18:4; Esther 5:1). The “golden sash around His chest” symbolized His office as a High Priest (Exodus 28:4; Leviticus 16:4; Hebrews 2:17-18). The white hair symbolized Jesus’ perfect truth and wisdom (Daniel 7:9; Proverbs 20:29). The legs and feet like fire symbolized Christ as a righteous judge (Matthew 10:26; Hebrews 12:5-10; Revelation 2:18). The voice like many waters symbolized Christ’s almighty power (Ezekiel 43:2 John 5:28-29). The seven stars in His right hand are symbols of either angels or church leaders (Daniel 10:13; Hebrews 1:14; Matthew 18:10; Acts 12:15; 1 Corinthians 11:10). The sharp sword coming from Jesus’ mouth symbolized Him as a defender, and His face shining like the sun speaks of His glory (Judges 5:31; Matthew 13:43; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Ephesians 3:12). This was definitely NOT a way John had seen Jesus before.